Hightown Season 1, Episode 5 recap: [SPOILER]’s story comes to a shocking end

Hightown Season 1, Episode 5 recap: Krista’s story comes to a shocking end.

Unfortunately for anyone who might have been hoping that Jackie would not fall off the wagon at the end of Hightown Season 1, Episode 4, the opening of Episode 5 reveals that she very much did.

She wakes up after a blackout night of drinking and discovers her phone is soaked — she puts it in rice, not sure if that will work but we’ll find out. After puking her guts out and trying to eat a mediocre breakfast, she eventually retires to the bar for a little hair of the dog that bit her.

Junior happens to walk by and catch her chugging a beer with an empty Bloody Mary beside it. Needless to say, Jackie is 100% off the wagon again. She even tries to get Junior to sell her some coke.

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It only goes downhill from there for her as she gets increasingly drunk and coked-up throughout the night. She screws everything up with Devonne, too.

The night eventually takes Jackie to Slade’s the bartender’s house. Slade is entertaining a girl of her own, but since they’re also drunk and high, they welcome Jackie for a while.

She tells them all about Krista and the crazy story of how she got involved in her life, which leads Slade’s hookup, Karen, to suggest they go on a “rescue mission.”

It’s actually good timing because Krista finally caves and calls Jackie. But since her phone is dead, she’s forced to leave a voicemail.

The drunken trio files into an Uber or Lyft and heads toward Bourne, only to get kicked out because they’re obnoxious as heck. For a moment, Jackie considers walking the rest of the way to Krista’s hotel, but Karen and Slade are already bored with this failed mission.

Her second blackout morning in a row doesn’t bring Jackie anymore answers. At least her phone is working again when she gets home! She listens to Krista’s voicemail and calls her back, but Ray picks up!

Krista is dead, passing away at approximately 1:00 a.m., which is the exact time that Jackie was considering going to her hotel. But more on her death later.

Hightown Season 1, Episode 5 recap: Ray and Renee enjoy a movie date

Ray and Alan meet with an attorney to see if they can get authorization to bug Osito’s phone, the O’Donnel’s garage, and his girlfriend’s residence. The problem is, they don’t have real concrete proof of him working at the garage or even staying with Kathleen.

Plus, Ray is a renowned jerk around the office, and no one wants to work with him from the District Attorney’s office, so they’re met with a resounding “no” until they can find more concrete proof and exhaust all their other options.

Ray is really the perfect example of everything wrong with corrupt cops. It feels extra timely when he heads to O’Donnell’s and threatens the guys working there with calling ICE if they don’t give him the information he wants on Osito.

None of it seems to phase them, though, at least not yet. Instead, Ray sets his sights back on Renee and pretty much blows off the case for the majority of the episode.

He asks Renee out for a romantic dinner. Unfortunately, her mom bails on babysitting, so she’s forced to cancel, and her first reaction is to assume Ray is going to scream at her. It’s very telling, considering that it is likely her relationship with Frankie. That said, I wouldn’t call Ray a “good guy.”

Still, he saves the night by finding a nearby park playing an outdoor screening of Dirty Dancing. Ray, Frankie Jr., and Renee have a fun night out together. Then while cuddling in their post-coital bliss, Ray gets the phone call about Krista.

Hightown Season 1, Episode 5 recap: Junior gets in even deeper with Osito

Junior and Osito pay Frankie another visit in prison. He wants Krista dead, Jackie too — although he doesn’t know who she is yet. Junior manages to convince both men that Jackie is some crazy nut who won’t be a problem. Krista, on the other hand, has to go.

Osito takes Junior to another dealer outside of the Cape. This guy appears to be presented as a potential foil to Frankie. He gives Osito a small baggie of intense, pure, drugs, something that will easily take out a junkie.

The plan is for Junior to show up at Krista’s door and give her a new “sample” of a product from Scotty. Then he just needs to watch her shoot up so he can be sure she’s fully dead.

Well, it starts well enough. Junior and Krista even bond a little over their shared desire to get clean and stay clean.

“But not tonight.” Obviously.

Krista preps her next dosage, pausing before the needle goes in as she gets increasingly freaked out by Junior being sober and just sitting there watching her. Finally, she snaps and decides she’s not doing anything while he’s in the room.

Sensing that something isn’t going according to plan, Osito suddenly bursts into the room. A scuffle ensues with the two men trying to force the injection into Krista’s arm, and the needle gets broken in the skirmish.

Osito is forced to take matters into his own hands, bludgeoning Krista to death with an iron.

It’s a chilling and intense scene, one that is undoubtedly going to push Junior onto an increasingly dark path.

One thing I will give Hightown some credit for is trying to flesh out Osito more as a character. He’s not just an emotionless yes-man. He tries to tell Junior about himself and how he got to this point in the car. He admits that killing Krista that way was messed up. However, I still think it’s somewhat unsavory for the show to make their only main black character, a brutal killer.

Regardless, Hightown‘s fifth episode is one of its darkest yet and one that is obviously going to shake things up substantially moving forward, especially if Jackie starts poking around Krista’s death.

What did you think about Hightown Episode 5? Will Osito and Junior be told to go after Jackie next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

New episodes of Hightown Season 1 air Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Starz. Episodes also become available at midnight on the Starz streaming app.